City of Albuquerque

WHEREAS, April 24 is indelibly imprinted in the memory of the Armenian people, worldwide, since the year 1915, when the mass genocide of the Armenian people began in the Ottoman Turkish Empire; and

WHEREAS, our Armenian citizens are dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the martyrs of this holocaust that began with the arrest and murder of Armenian community leaders and members of the National Parliament; and

WHEREAS, the Armenian families were uprooted from their ancestral homeland, brutally exposed to all kinds of indignities, and slain by the hundreds of thousands so that more than half the Armenian people perished; and

WHEREAS, in our democracy the principles of humanity and the dignity of man constitute the indestructible foundation for life, liberty, freedom and equality for the pursuit of happiness; and

WHEREAS, Armenian ancestors have contributed to the good of our City, State and Nation, in war as in peace;

NOW, THERFOERE, I, Harry E. Kinney, Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, do hereby proclaim

APRIL 24, 1982

"ARMENIAN MARTYRS' DAY"

in Albuquerque and urge all citizens to take cognizance of this event and to participate fittingly in its observance.